2017

June 29, 2017Recognizing the Fabric of our NationI received a phone call the other day. It was Denis Maxwell, a much-loved professor from the Department of Biology. Over the course of the conversation, he shared a thought he had as he scanned the cultural mosaic of faces in his classroom the previous day.

May 25, 2017Atoms in ancient minerals tell a smashing history Every planet has its secrets, especially the events of its youth billions of years ago. However, patterns of atoms in tiny fragments of ancient crystals can reveal some of those secrets – the date of events such as giant meteorite impacts. Researchers from Western University and the University of Portsmouth made the discovery using the 150-km (93-mile) wide Sudbury crater as a test site.

March 28, 2017Word of mouth lets medieval chants travel through timeIn a world where people rely on smartphones and Google instead of memory, the spread of medieval chant is remarkable.
More than 1,000 years ago, an order of monks travelled across Europe, sharing thousands of plainsong chants in church services. The monks did not write their music down at first and relied on memory to replicate the intricate melodies, which flowed in a strictly oral tradition from person to person. Only much later did the chants appear in musical notations in liturgical books.

March 14, 2017Cancer diagnosis without an invasive biopsy? Yes, pleaseIs it cancer or is it a benign tumor? That question is often answered by invasive techniques like biopsies that involve needles or tubes to reach and remove a piece of tissue for closer study. However, accurately diagnosing and treating cancer may soon be possible without a biopsy, thanks to researchers at Western University in London, Ontario.

February 16, 2017New research opens a window on eye health Researchers at Western University in London, Ontario have found that early vision loss in mice helps anticipate and predict age-related diseases that typically appear much later in life. For an aging population facing vision-related diseases like macular degeneration and glaucoma, that’s good news.

February 07, 2017Polymer's 'domino' delivery shows potential for cancer treatmentResearchers at Western University are among many looking for ways to offer hope to patients and their families. One promising area of research uses biodegradable polymers in a drug delivery system that more precisely targets cancer cells and selectively releases drugs to attack them.